Affordable medicines for priceless lives

Unlike the looming health care crisis triggered by the unabated exodus of both experienced and rookie doctors and nurses, there is a relatively easy way out of another problem bugging the local health care system for decades – the sky-high prices of medicines.

While it may take years or even decades before we can offer nurses and doctors monthly wages that are at least reasonable enough to keep them here, the issue of unaffordable medicines is being tackled now. The government is aggressively pushing and supporting the Botika ng Bayan project, anchored on the parallel importation of off-patent drugs and drug ingredients, as the immediate response to this problem.

The country may be losing its doctors and nurses even as hundreds of hospitals are shutting down due to a lack of competent personnel, but with the Botika ng Bayan and its cheaper but equally potent and effective medicines, contrary to the propaganda of giant drug firms, the Filipino people have a better chance of living a healthier life.

Starting with right prices

Some years back, the government confronted the decades-old issue of stiff medicine prices in the country (which could be as much as 10 times more expensive than other countries in South East Asia), and gave birth to the Presyong Tama Gamot Pampamilya, handled by then Trade and Industry Secretary and now Sen. Mar Roxas II.

Originally, the program made available off-patent imported medicines from India in 76 Department of Health-maintained hospitals nationwide. The program, which brought down the price of a life-saving antibiotic or anti-hypertensive drug by as much as 84 percent, instantly caught the attention and drew appreciation from the masses.

I was told that during then Sec. Roxas’ provincial sorties prior to his seeking a Senate seat, it was the cheap medicines program that drew the most interest, particularly among local government executives. Today, the crusade to make more cheap medicines available to more people nationwide evolved into the Botika ng Bayan (or Botika ng Barangay if located in and supported by the barangay and its officials) program, and is being spearheaded by Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) chief Roberto "Obet" Pagdanganan.

Foreign drug firms’ lobby

As expected, the well-funded lobbyists of giant multinational pharmaceutical firms ganged up on the Botika ng Bayan, to the extent of slapping Pagdanganan with lawsuits, and even making insinuations that off-patent medicines are of poor quality and hence useless.

The issue of drug potency, however, has earlier been addressed when the Bureau of Food and Drug certified that medicines under the parallel importation program are as effective as its more expensive counterparts.

Pagdanganan, drawing additional support from legislators, including Sen. Roxas himself, is intensifying the bid to make more LGUs, NGOs, parishes and legislators aware of the Botika ng Bayan program and how they can take part in the program and leave a lasting legacy of health to the people.

It is imperative that concerned government officials support the Botika ng Bayan program which is making sure that medicines are justly priced and are made available to people who need them most, instead of bowing to the multinational drug cartels’ lobby.

Shocking disparity

The fact is that it has been proven that many medicines/drugs can be sold at cheaper prices. So why do the giant multinational drug firms continue selling their products in Third World countries at prohibitive prices?

Aside from having the most expensive medicines in South East Asia, it is said that the Philippines has the second most expensive medicines in the whole of Asia, next only to Japan.

Worse, the so-called multinational drug cartel not only sells us medicines that are as much as 84 percent costlier, but has imposed continuing price increases over the past few years.

Two to three years back, the anti-bacterial Augmentin 625mg (Co-amoxiclav) had a market price of P86. Now, it retails at P91 per tablet in big drug stores. Under the DTI’s Presyong Tama Gamot Pampamilya program, the same was sold in DOH-operated hospitals for only P63.50. In the case of Adalat Retard 20mg (Nifedipine), a widely prescribed anti-hypertensive, its market price a few years back was P36.25 per tablet. Today, Adalat Retard retails at P41.25, but is only selling for P21 through the Botika ng Bayan. Your favorite anti-inflammatory painkiller Ponstan (500mg) was sold at P19.70 a tablet before, but now sells for P22.90 in the market compared to only P14.75 if purchased in any Botika ng Bayan outlets.

In a country where more than half of the population lives in poverty, those hefty price differences could spell the difference between life and death.

Is affordable medicine just a dream?

The disparity in prices of anti-psychotic, anti-anginal, anti-diabetes, anti-epileptic and anti-diarrhea drugs as well as bronchodilators is just as mind-blowing.

The stunning price disparity of medicines sold under the Botika ng Bayan and those manufactured and sold by multinational pharmaceutical firms through large drug store chains continue to haunt the consuming public. Questions are being raised. How can these companies get away with it? Is Botika ng Bayan the only approach the government can take to bring down the cost of medicines? How did India and other countries that achieved relatively much lower costs of medicine manage to tame the multinational pharmaceutical firms’ hunger for bigger profits?

More on this issue of unaffordable medicines strangling the lives of sick Filipinos in succeeding columns.

Poker buddies celebrate holidays

The Poker Club of the Philippines will hold its Christmas cocktails complete with an exchange gifts program on Monday, 19th December 2005 starting at 6 pm at Valle Verde Country Club, Pasig City. Poker buddies will be celebrating what has been an exciting and fruitful year in terms of the poker skills competition. After cocktails, the special all-members non-wager poker tournament will follow featuring no-limit Texas Hold’em. The champion for the night gets the P30,000 prize pot.

The Poker Club would like to remind interested parties that the final leg of the ongoing Poker King Challenge, a series of non-wager tournaments conducted in partnership with Pagcor, will be held on 7th January 2006 at Casino Filipino Silahis, Roxas Blvd. with the top three winners joining the previous legs qualifiers at the Grand Finals to be held on 21st January 2006 at Casino Filipino Tagaytay.

For more details about the above poker activities, visit HYPERLINK "http://www.PokerClubofthePhilippines.com" or call the Secretariat (c/o Cindy) at 817-9092 or 816-6195.

Should you wish to share any insights, write me at Link Edge, 4th Floor, 156 Valero Street, Salcedo Village, 1227 Makati City. Or e-mail me at [email protected] or at [email protected]. If you wish to view the previous columns, you may visit my website at http://bizlinks.linkedge.biz